SDL version Cossacks

[MisterCoderman]

Hello,
I was sent a link to your repository. It's a pity I didn't know about your project earlier; I would have helped.
In any case, I released version 1.52 of Cossacks: Back to War a few days ago. The source code is available in my repository, and you are welcome to use it to enhance your project.

[Danyk1q]

@MisterCoderman Hi, could you send me the link to your repository? Can you help me with building it for Windows XP?

[MisterCoderman]

@Danyk1q Hello!
The repository is in my profile — just click on it and you’ll see the list of repositories.
There’s already a version for Windows XP, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
Just download it and play.
The game is built using SDL2 and SDL2_Mixer.

[Danyk1q]

@MisterCoderman Thanks, I already found your profile myself 😄 I’m shocked! Everything really works great on XP, thanks man!

[MisterCoderman]

@Danyk1q I'm glad everything is working for you. Have a great day! 😊

[ByPort]

Hi @MisterCoderman, this looks great! I’ll definitely check out your project once I have time to get back to mine.

Would you be open to collaborating? It turns out my project’s goals are more ambitious than I first expected, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MisterCoderman]

@ByPort Thanks! Hi! Of course, I’m ready to help — that would actually be really cool.
The only thing is, I’d need to find some free time for it, since my schedule is pretty tight right now.

As for the current version, you’ll need to sync the engine code with version 1.52.
Your code is based on version 1.42, which had a huge number of issues —
memory leaks, incompatibility with mods (which is a big deal for many),
and crashes when running a large number of units. No matter how hard Ereb tried, he couldn’t fully fix those problems.

On top of that, with many units, the CPU gets overwhelmed because the game doesn't utilize multi-threading.
The code has been heavily reworked since then, and it’s just easier to keep porting version 1.52 to other platforms and fully switch to cross-platform code.

Also, version 1.52 includes new cheats and additional features that weren’t present in earlier versions.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a changelog, since originally I was just making the game for myself.
But later I decided to release it to the public — didn’t expect there’d be so much interest from people.

[Danyk1q]

@ByPort Hi, why would ordinary players need the SDL3 version? We need to improve the game and make it available on as many platforms as possible, and SDL3 is like using a bazooka to kill a fly. @MisterCoderman made the right choice — his game works on Windows XP, macOS, and Linux, and he has solved almost all the problems people constantly run into. Mod 1 and Mod Reloaded are what people have been waiting for over 10 years, while the author version 1.42 simply ignored this.

Right now I’m playing with a friend; we each have armies of 10,000–15,000 units, and everything runs perfectly. Version 1.42 could barely handle 8,000 units before crashing or causing massive lag. It was a great version, but the lack of mods was a huge downside. I even tried enabling mods through an override file, but the game just crashed.

In short, a piece of advice from a fan who has been playing Cossacks for 20 years — both of you, @ByPort and @MisterCoderman, think not only about cross-platform support but also about making the game comfortable and enjoyable for players. What you’ve done, @MisterCoderman, is fantastic! Bravo! Thank you so much!

[m09382281-collab]

@ByPort @MisterCoderman
Greetings!
I’ve reviewed your repositories because I was genuinely curious who stole the idea from whom—if anyone did at all. As it turns out, it’s clear that both of you came up with the same concept independently, but your approaches are completely different.

In short, I’d like to offer my help to both of you. I can see that your codebases are fundamentally different—not just in structure, but in coding style and overall methodology.

However, a note for @ByPort (no offense): your code really needs to be scrapped and started from scratch. On the other hand, @MisterCoderman code is impressive from an architectural standpoint—especially in terms of memory management and the use of SDL2_mixer instead of the default SDL2 audio libraries.

Also, it’s quite clever how you worked around the crash issues in the mods. Judging by the areas where those crashes used to occur, you must have rewritten a significant amount of code.

One thing I’m still unclear about is: how are you planning to get rid of the ASM code? And how will you recreate the AI logic?

Also, the Mouse_X.cpp file in @MisterCoderman code is quite unique. The way you translated the fog of war from ASM to C++ was really smart. There are indeed parts of the original code that don’t translate well through compatibility layers like Rosetta 2.

One downside of @MisterCoderman code was that the pixel conversion was shit. Good thing you fixed it in the latest version. No more comments.
And one more important note: SDL2 is a global standard in cross-platform development and continues to evolve steadily. SDL3 is a completely new and immature technology, and trying to port the game to it right now is, quite frankly, a bad idea. I’m ready to help you—but only under the condition that the code stays on SDL2. The idea of moving to SDL3 at this stage just doesn’t make sense.

[m09382281-collab]

@Danyk1q This is a fairly valid point. Legacy support is very important. And the fact that the game works perfectly everywhere is great. It’s important not to break compatibility but to develop and port to other platforms, unlike what you are discussing here about switching from SDL2 to SDL3. You act like children with nothing better to do. Focus on developing the project! Add mods and keep porting it further.

[albertgasparan]

@m09382281-collab @ByPort @MisterCoderman I completely agree that the base should be the engine version 1.52 by @MisterCoderman . After the mods and cheats integrated by @MisterCoderman , no one will want to play your game—neither in the browser nor anywhere else. The game needs to have a switch between the classic and modded versions. It should include music and everything possible. Right now, your engine is buggy—there’s not even OGG support implemented. Take a look at @MisterCoderman code—everything is already implemented there.There's at least six months of work there — you'd have to implement everything from scratch. Instead of wasting time on nonsense, fork it and start improving what already works.